Sonic Cross Worlds
by JBCC84
Summary: Caitlin is an average college student who can't seem to control her academic, social, and love life since an accident as a child. Sonic is a fast hedgehog who just escaped from his falling apart world. These two seem to be the perfect pair, but he is her biggest secret. The more she hangs around him, the more she learns of her past. Is that secret or something to write about?


Hi, I'm Caitlin, no one special really, so why use my last name right now? I'm just a girl who's trying to pass her writing class this year. Actually, I don't know where to begin with this assignment. It catches me off guard when mine has been up for the longest time with these things. The only good thing about this is that I only have to do a semester's worth, which is one hundred and three days. Oh, goody.

I guess I can start after the school day finishes off after Cultural Anthropology. It's not interesting, but let's be honest with ourselves. What is? After I fetch a pick me up snack from the cafeteria, I head down to the pool, where the swim team is practicing and the other girls are tanning because they like their hobby. I'm the only person in clothes still, which makes me the Rollins College attraction besides our creepy-looking mascot, Tommy the Tar. I know what the other girls say about me. I'm not popular, and it's not my intention to take off my clothes in front of anybody. Being smart doesn't give me brownie points. Actually, I have two friends on the swim team who deserve more attention than anyone else in the world.

"Cotter! Guerrero!" calls the coach, Dr. Morris, who scares me quite a bit,"Switch with Hockman and Smith!"

Brigid Cotter is an outcast in a popular girl's body. I guess that's how we became friends. No, not really. It's the fact we're in the same RCC, Real World: Rollins College, and Writing About: Magic Kingdom together (of course, you know about the second class). At least Brigi would do a better job at the writing assignment than me. She has more to write about than I (and of course, you will see that probably after reading this. If you read hers before mine, hers is definitely better than what you're going to read). Brigi and I watch movies on the weekends, Disney movies more like, and I plan for her to join me on my Disney spring break trip. We spend most of our afternoons and nights together, talking about girl stuff.

Luis Guerrero...Hot damn! If looks could kill, I would've been dead months ago. Luis may not have a six-pack, but his smooth face and swimmer's muscles make up for it. I knew Luis much longer than Brigid. I met him in February for Accepted Students Day. We were the two shyest of the bunch, and I'm glad I met him. He's a gentleman, for he opens doors, helps me climb stairs, gets me drinks, and once, I tripped, and he dove down and broke my fall. I almost broke his ribs, but he said, "I would do it again any day for you." We don't have any classes together this semester, but I love to crash his swim practices just for the heck of it. If he doesn't like it, he would've told me by now.

"Whatcha hangin' around for, Cherniak!" Brigi calls, wrapping her towel around her waist.

"Just to see you guys kick each others' butts, and it looks as if Luis did the better job of it, Brigid."

Luis chuckles and nudges Brigid's shoulder. Their height difference shows for sure.

"Coach Morris shouldn't even let girls verse guys," she growls. "It would be easier if there are separate teams."

"What is this?" he counters, "High school?"

"Will you two ever get along?" I groan, rolling my eyes to the back of my head until I start losing my vision.

"Until someone stops being a braggart," Brigi replies.

"Well, excuse me for being more experienced than you," Luis mocks.

"I'm outty. Caity, text me later, 'kay? Tomorrow is your day off, and I want you to make plans before Collin beats you to it."

"I'm aware!" I tell her. My day offs this semester are Tuesday and Thursday. Tomorrow is Tuesday, and because this is my first full week of school, there's not really anything for me to do. Well, there's this, so I have to do something interesting tomorrow. Brigi might as well help me for that.

After Brigid head to the girl's locker room, Luis offers me a walk back to my dorm. McKean Hall is supposed to be for the athletes, so I'm confused and happy about how an English major like me ended up in the same dorm building as my hot friend. It's a miracle actually. Our rooms were next door to each other during the summer orientation, and he let me hang out in there until I had to go to sleep. Oh, how much I would've loved to do that again. Sadly, his dorm is on the floor above mine.

"You're lucky that you're not an English major, Lui. I have to write at least a hundred and three entries worth of how boring my life is."

"You'll figure something out, Caitlin. College has a lot of things to do and write about."

"I repeat! My life is boring, Luis! Am I supposed to write "nothing to confirm" everyday?"

He wraps his arm around my neck and says, "It's not, pal. Something will pop up. I know it. Why? Because I happen to know more about you than you know about you."

"Gee, thanks." The pause is long and awkward. I can swear to you that I'm sweating more than a soccer player after a game in the World Cup, which was this past summer actually. My little sister was proud that Germany won, and still is.

Luis finally and thankfully breaks the silence. "Caitlin…"

"Yeah?"

During the second pause, he clicks his tongue. "If you don't have any plans with Brigid tomorrow, wanna...go somewhere for lunch or something? We can meet up in the cafe. Who knows? We can hang at the pool, order some virgin drinks. Just the two of us."

I purse my lips, speechless.

"It's not a date. I just thought it would be nice to...hang out, you know."

"I know what you mean, and that sounds fun."

"Oh...Cool." Are his cheeks turning red? His face might explode if I don't say something soon.

"So twelve?"

"Yeah. Twelve."

"Lui?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm at my dorm. You can stop putting your hand on my shoulder now."

His face is redder than a tomato once he lets go of me. "Sorry," he quickly says.

I can't help but laugh. Searching for my dorm key, I go pat him on the head and response, "I'll see you tomorrow, Luis."

Luis goes on ahead and messes up my artificially blonde hair, which is probably sweaty and greasy by now. "Have a good night, shorty." I'm not that short! I'm four foot ten! I may not be the tallest of people, but Luis doesn't have to rub it in my face. The only good thing he gets out of it is a sense of humor.

"Let me guess. The day you stop calling me that is the day the world ends."

"Oh sure. I'll still be calling you shorty up in Heaven. Don't you forget that."

"Good night, Louise,"I mock, opening the door and slipping through.

"Okay that was uncalled for."

"Sorry, not sorry. Why don't you do your homework now?"

"Why don't you get started on that journal entry?"

"Bleh."

"Meh."

After our farewell, I shut the door behind me. I'm just glad my roommate, Christine, didn't hear the conversation. She likes to make fun of my crush on Luis. Christy loves to use our friendship and turn us into a "married couple." I find it insulting since Luis and I aren't married...yet. She means well, but I can't stand her sense of humor.

My phone rings, and it's Brigid.

_Dinner?_

* * *

"His face turned red?"

I nod. "As a cherry."

Brigid and I don't eat dinner together as often as we would like. On nights like these, she would rather hang out with her boyfriend, Collin, than have dinner with some single girl like me. I'm guessing Collin's busy tonight.

"Caitlin, it's obvious. Luis has a crush on you, but he just doesn't want to admit it."

My scoff is the loudest it's ever been in my entire life. "No, he does not."

Brigi comes in quick with the slap. "Stop it, Caity. Yes, he does. He just doesn't know when to ask because he's the shyest human being besides you. You need to start moving in on him. Flirt with him a little. You're a girl after all!"

"I want to, but I don't know how to." My eyes glance down at my pizza slice. I've kept the Pizza Monday tradition alive from home. "Every time I try, I'm a stalker in a guy's eyes, not a babe."

Brigid puts her hands together and says, "Caitlin. If you don't take the chance, you'll never have him, and do you know what that means?"

My whole face turns sour. "And if he doesn't say anything?"

"It could be two things. One, he's a scaredy cat, and I will have to do something about it. Two, you didn't respond with body language. Requited love has two sides."

"Like a never ending line…" The two points are never meant to meet.

"Someday, Caity, you'll be like every other girl. Happy."

A heavy sigh escapes from my mouth. "Or emotionless?" I don't give Brigi a chance to answer that. I just take my tray and my wristlet, dump the tray of garbage, and walk straight back to my dorm room.

* * *

I couldn't sleep all night. I always end up waking up for no reason. The moon is the only light in the sky that shines through the small window that's almost touching the ceiling. Christine Kaghan, my roommate, is sleeping like a baby. She doesn't wake up to anything except herself in the morning, which is interesting to me because she's never late to anything. With that being the case, I grab my gray, soft, Forever 21 jacket, my ID, and my dorm key and head right out the door and up the stairs to the lobby floor. All the doors except the restrooms' are locked shut. The hall monitor is nowhere to be seen, so I slip out of the building and start on my after midnight walk.

The walkway lamps and security posts are lit and shining bright as if it's somewhat morning under darkness. Barely anybody is out at this time, but if anyone outside the college staff sees me, I wouldn't care. All I need is some fresh air, and who's gonna take that away from me?"

The lawn in front of the Mills Memorial Hall is empty at night. During the day, it's filled with picnic baskets, blankets, and groups of students doing whatever they want. When it's quiet on the lawn, I can hear the crickets and cicadas sing. I let myself fall backwards onto the "fake" grass and stare up at the party starry sky.

A bit of moonlight touches my necklace, and that light goes into my eyes. It bothers me when it does that, and it's a mystery why the sun doesn't shine upon it, but I've grown to with it. Actually the necklace isn't really mine. It used to belong to a very old friend of mine at a time when things were happy and not sugarcoated. I was hanging out at Nellson's and we were minding our own businesses until his room was accidentally set on fire. I don't remember how it happened, but I do remember hearing his voice one last time before the bad news.

"Take this, Caitlin, and be a good girl for me. Promise me not to cry, not even when the most horrible thing happens, for if you do, your emotional flames will come out in the most dangerous way possible. Be strong and become the princess I know you can be...This is goodbye."

The flames knocked me out, and the next time I woke up was in a bed at the hospital. The room was filled with my family and Nellson's. The first thing I asked was his whereabouts, and the response killed me. "He's gone...he's dead." Even after hearing that, I remembered what he said. Not to cry. I really wanted to, but I couldn't. I never broke a promise, and it still stands to this day. Nellson's death was five years ago, and it's still fresh as if it happened just yesterday. I guess it's his fate that haunts me at night, and I can't sleep without dreaming about the accident over and over again. I should keep my mind on my writing assignment to at least bring me to peace.

As I stare up at the sky, a gush of wind blows my hair into my face. Once I sit up, I look about to see that everything seems normal. Not a single tree is twisting, and I can't feel a thing except for the warm night air. "Is someone there?" I call out, and nothing responds. "Hello!" Nothing is going to happen if I keep laying on the grass. "Is anyone here?" After a few seconds of silence, I announce, "Okay, I'm going to go back to my dorm now since no one is out here at this time of night. I'm a fool for leaving my safe place just to take a pointless walk." The moment I step back onto the walkway to McKean Hall, it returns. "Okay, whoever's doin' that, I will find out who you are!" I snap, "If you don't want me to hurt you, come out and surrender yourself!"

The first place I check is the bushes next to the nearest building I'm close to. I end up ruining my pajama pants with dirt and wood chips on the knees, but I manage to come across something that gets me closer to solving the night's mystery. There's a footprint, a deep one. I can tell whoever stepped through here is wearing sneakers, but the oval shape of the print is more circular. No one has more circular feet. At least no human does. Nothing is outside the garden when I come back out again, but there are newly smeared footprints on the walkway. They seem very close to each other, and there are many of them. I follow the trail to the next set of bushes, and the same thing occurs: out of the bush, and dirt is spread on the walkway. The pattern seems to repeat until I get to Chase Hall, which is a few feet away from McKean.

"I think you ran out of places to hide," I announce. I'm really thankful that there's no one out here. "Stop hiding. You're going to make me do things that I'll regret."

That gush of wind comes back, but it brushes the back of my legs like fingers across the surface of water.

"Ah! How rude! Nobody touches a lady like that!"

A spark of laughter suddenly appears. It's deep with a little bit of pitch. It reminds me of a laugh coming from a young teen boy. There are not supposed to be any teenagers on campus. Usually security is tight...well, I'm a hypocrite for saying that.

"You think this is funny? I didn't come out here to be insulted, you know."

Apparently, I have. After I say that, that wind turns into a tornado spin. I'm the one spinning like an idiot more like because I'm trying to find out who's the jerk who's leading me in circles. It feels like forever, especially when I have a weak stomach. Fortunately, it stops. Unfortunately, that leads to the stranger bumping into me and the both of us falling to the ground. The next time I open my eyes is when I get the first glimpse at the one response for making me go crazy. It starts at the legs and feet. The sneakers are red, white, and dirty from the garden soil. The legs are skinny as chicken feet, which amazes me how someone can stand on them. What shocks me is the fact that they're blue! It's not even skin. It's fur! This jerk isn't human, and I'm learning this the hard way. I meet the stranger's green eyes, we end up jumping backwards to get away from each other, screaming once as well. I can only back up so little, but the other one zooms, literally zooms, into the bushes.

I have never seen anyone run so fast in my entire life before. I used to have friends on the track team in high school, but none of them dash for their lives at that speed. Whoever it is, I must've scared him insanely with my scream or glance at him.

"I'm sorry," is all I can start with. "I didn't mean to scare you. It was rude of me to scream like that. Normally, I would be the one blaming you for scaring me, but tonight, I won't." Pushing myself from the ground, I stretch my arm out, taking four steps toward the bushes. "Are you lost? Maybe I can help you find your way. Please forgive me for scaring you. Don't hide from me. I won't hurt you."

The bush trembles ever so lightly. The pair of green eyes are the only things I see coming out of the darkness of the plant.

"I'm not afraid of you. You shouldn't be of me. If you're lost, I can help you. Forgive me..."

"No," he interrupts. "Forgive me…" He ends up crawling out of the bushes. His peach-colored face mixes quite well with his blue hair, not just his head but the rest of his body. Some dirt crumbs fall off his sneakers, but they are still pretty filthy. "I was too careless with that little prank of mine. I meant to confuse you, not make you mad. I'm sorry."

Instead of glaring at him, I end up smirking. "It's alright. With that stunt, you did the perfect job. You're the right size, and you went pretty fast, did you?"

The small guy blushes. His black nose twitches. "Well, they don't call me Sonic for nothing."

"Sonic? That's your name?"

He gives me a thumbs up. His white gloves are kinda stained, but the white parts are bright as the stars. "Sonic the Hedgehog."

I chuckle. "Funny, you don't look like a hedgehog."

"But that's what I am."

"I believe you when you say that. I'm sorry." Another laugh escapes from my throat. "I just haven't seen anything, I mean anyone, like you before. I'm a little flabbergasted. Just a bit." The giggling just keeps coming out.

Sonic tilts his head and starts scratching the back of it. "Are you okay? The last time I checked, your face was pale. Now, you're turn red. Are you sick?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just a bit embarrassed." A realization hits me, and a stricken gasp escapes from my throat. "We have to get you away from here. Security is going to find you, and God knows what they can do to a guy like you."

He scoffs. "What are they going to do to me? Turn me into a bear rug?"

"Probably or worse. Just look how filthy you are. It looks like you've been running in dirt all day. Well, that leads me to another question I guess. Where did you come from? And another...How did you get here? Rollins College is not in the middle of nowhere, but it's the most random of places to end up."

His eyes clenches shut as he mouth widens for a yawn. "Well…I wish…I could…"

"You must be tired from running around, huh? I know a place where you can sleep in peace. It might not be much, but I promise I'll try to find you a place to live in the morning. I always keep my word."

Sonic yawns again. "Do you? Oh yeah, I just remembered. You never told me your name."

A sense of heat rushes into my face. "Oh god! I forgot to mention my name! Oh, how embarrassing!" One breath in, one breath out. "My name is Caitlin Cherniak. Freshman and English major here at Rollins College. I am also a future choir, drama club, and dance club member. If not, I'll be a future sorority sister."

"Wow. That's a lot of titles to keep track of. Plus, what's a sorority?"

My cheeks turn red again. "Oh, uh, how about I tell you everything tomorrow? That's my free day."

"Free day?"

"It means I have no classes tomorrow."

"Well then. Where do you live? The only buildings I've seen here look like they all have desks and no beds."

"Oh, my dorm is close by. We're just a few feet from it." I lift Sonic in my arms, and his head hangs over my left shoulder. "However, we have to be very quiet. It's late, and we don't want to wake anyone up and get in trouble."

We get to McKean Hall, and the hall monitor is not in the lobby area. Still, I have to get to the stairs quickly without getting caught. One ID swipe is all it takes for the doors to unlock. I pull them out and quickly dash for the stairs that are on the right of the center hall. My slippers pitter patter as I take each step echo in this cellar of the stairwell. Sonic is getting comfortable on my shoulder, and that makes it heavier on my body than before. It's like carrying a five-year-old kid all over the place, and it hurts like crazy. Once up the stairs, I dash down to my dorm, searching for the keys in my pocket. I really need a keychain or something because if I lose that key, I'm dead meat. I open the door as quietly as I can. Christy is still asleep thankfully.

"My roommate is asleep, so I have to do some quick thinking," I whisper to Sonic.

"What's the plan?" he quietly responds.

"You'll see." I reach for the closet. The two doors swing open. The floor of the closet is neatly lined with books that are leveled with each other. From the top shelf, I snatch the only luggage bag I have left. I only have to use it when I have to return to my grandma's for holiday breaks or going on vacation with the family. Well, tonight, it has a new purpose.

"This is going to be my bed?"

"Shh! Yeah. Just for tonight. Promised." I snatch an extra set of sheets from under the bed. "These will be your blankets just for tonight. Oh! That reminds me. I want you to take off your shoes, socks, and gloves. I'm going to toss my whites in the wash in the morning, and I'll make sure your sneakers look good as new."

Sonic starts to shiver. "My clothes? Are you serious?"

"I don't want you ruining my sheets," I hiss.

"Alright, Miss Bossy, I won't ruin your sheets." He pushes his shoes right off each other. His gloves come off next. The last things are his socks. "Here you go."

"Oh, there's one thing I should give you for your head." I take one small pillow off my bed, which is the right size as Sonic's regular pillow. It's a pillow that I got as a souvenir at the theater in New York City, where How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was playing with Daniel Radcliffe as the lead. It was years ago when I saw the show, but I never forgot about it. I haven't.

"It's pink."

"Would you rather have a strained neck?"

"...No."

I make sure the pillow is facing the heart print, and I lay it down inside the luggage bag. "There. Comfy?"

"Sorta, but it'll have to do."

"You'll get something better tomorrow. Caitlin Cherniak doesn't break her promises."

"If you say, then I believe you."

"I'll see you in the morning."

As Sonic says, "Goodnight," I slowly close the door and lock it for safety. Christy is still asleep. Thank goodness for that.


End file.
